Sick In The City
by Brentinator
Summary: Peter Parker believed in sick days. Spider-Man doesn't. When he is injured and alone, which judgement will prevail when there's peril in the city? Beta read, edited and cover design by Stardust16.


**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**

 **It's finally here! I've been teasing it for about a week now and it's finally done!**

 **Huge, huge, huge, HUGE shoutout to Stardust16 who made the cover, beta read this story, and edited it all while cracking jokes that I'm Spider-Girl. Thank you so much!**

 **Please don't come for me saying "Spiderman can't get sick, he has advanced healing" I want him to be sick, I don't care about the science aspect lol jk but seriously, if we could all ignore that, it would be appreciated.**

 **Also, I have a head cannon that Michelle's mom either up and left Michelle and her dad, is dead, or her parents are divorced and Michelle just has her dad. That's why I didn't bring up her mom.**

 **Star, myself, Em, Kat and several others are gonna be doing a awesome collab posted by Star on Wattpad, so if you have Wattpad, check out Star's book "Spiderman fan art and facts" in fact number 15's authors note for more details.**

 **And before I started working on my part for the collab, I will be updating my Teen Wolf stuff, but please understand I've been under a lot of stress lately since I'm trying to lower my carbohydrate intake for medical reasons, I'm not very smart and pretty much failing spelling and math, and because my sister got married in August, I've been helping out a lot more, so I haven't been able to be active as much, which means writing as much, and therefore all of my unfinished books that are from the following shows are up for adoption.**

 **Lab Rats**

 **Lab Rats: Elite Force**

 **Mech-X4**

 **Lost and Found: Music Studios**

 **The Lost Medallion**

 **Backstage**

 **I love these books, but I have no desire to finish them, or even write another chapter. So if you wanna take one, I'd be more then happy.**

 **And now, on with the story!**

"Peter! You're gonna be late!" May yelled for the fourth time, knocking on her nephew's door. "Come on, kiddo!"

Peter groaned, immediately feeling like he was underwater with his sinuses completely plugged up, rolling out of the bed and onto the Lego's Ned had left, leading him to inhale sharply, the small points digging into his skin as he tried to stand, not wanting to, god forbid step on one of those Lego's cause he had already had that "wonderful" experience once this month.

After finally finding a spot on the hardwood floor that wasn't covered in the small plastic bricks, the teen finally brought himself to his feet, feeling the rising nausea in his stomach, as well as the looming headache that threatened him.

Peter, not wanting to be late, grabbed the closest outfit that didn't smell before putting it on, stuffing his homework into his backpack and slowly descending the stairs, feeling his normally senses that were at a eleven moved to what seemed to be a four hundred, the smell of toast hitting his stuffed up nose, almost making him puke right then and there, but managed to get down the stairs and sitting at the table, putting his head in his hands to block out the light.

"You OK, sweetheart?" May asked, gently stroking the teen's sweaty fringe after sitting beside him at the table.

"F-fine." Peter replied, starting to get chills from the most likely obvious fever he was running.

May gently placed her hand on his forehead, under the small bit of hair that covered it, immediately feeling the warm temperature coming from the teen and pulling her hand back, standing up to get the thermometer from the medicine cabinet.

"A-aunt May, I'm f-fine. Really." Peter insisted as May sat back down, turning the thermometer on and putting it in his mouth.

"Keep that under your tongue, sweetheart." She told him, gently ruffling his hair before standing up and grabbing the phone, to which her nephew raised a eyebrow before covering his eyes, the light burning them as soon as he looked up.

May dimmed the lights before dialing the number, saying the obvious that he wasn't going to school just as the thermometer beeped, and she pulled it out of his mouth, slightly wincing while reading the temperature before speaking to the principal on the phone, directing Peter towards the couch.

The teen slowly stood up, still willing every tired, achy muscle in his body to not throw up and walked to the couch, practically gripping onto the wall so he didn't fall onto the floor, the headache finally making it's full wrath known, leading the teen to groan, wrapping the throw around his feverish body just as his Aunt came into the room, sitting beside his feet and gently laying her hand on his leg.

"I'm gonna head to the store real fast, kiddo. Need anything in particular?" She asked quietly, her nephew shaking his head, and she nodded sympathetically, kissing his forehead lightly. "I already texted Tony and told him you need a day off. He told you to take it easy. Love you."

"Love you too." The teen mumbled from the couch while his aunt grabbed her phone and purse, leaving the house and locking the door behind her.

Peter, needing some background noise to get to sleep, turned on the TV to a talk show, and laid down on the throw pillow, praying he wasn't gonna throw up in his sleep all over the couch.

Just as he got comfortable, he heard the TV go from the calm soothing woman's voice to a loud, nervous man, and thinking he had changed the channel by laying on the remote, looked up at the TV and saw that the caption; "Breaking News!" Was across the screen, leading the young superhero to sit right up, almost regretting it as he had to swallow the nausea down before his brain could register what the reporter was saying.

"-attackers are holding several teens and teachers hostage in the Midtown School of Science and Technology. Police are currently trying to negotiate with the criminals so nothing happens to these teens, ranging from ages fourteen through eighteen. No injuries or deaths have been reported, but until everyone involved is home and safe, we won't know for sure-".

Peter turned off the TV, practically flying up the stairs, running off of adrenaline as he grabbed his suit from the hatch in the ceiling and putting it on, opening the window and shooting a web on one of the buildings, slinging out of the apartment towards the school.

...

Ned was… well, terrified, to say the least. The one day Peter could've been sick, a team of ten attackers decided to hold them hostage, and they couldn't hear why on earth they were holding them captive other than a hundred kids and teachers were worth more than ten men.

During chemistry, they were all ushered into the gym, the largest room in the school, by gunpoint and told to sit on the bleachers or the floor and don't try anything funny as they took everyone's phones.

Ned was currently fiddling with a small Luke Skywalker Lego figurine that had been in his pocket, trying to calm his nerves while most of the kids were sitting silently and the others were using their fidget spinners before he was hit in the head with something.

Turning around from his spot on the bleachers, he saw two crumbled up pieces of paper, which he slowly opened, and read over it, seeing it was a sloppily scribbled note and a badly drawn Spider-Man from Michelle's notebook.

"Use the second paper if they ask what you're up to. Also, what are the heck police doing? 'Cause I'm about to give these dudes a piece of my mind if they don't release us before we're all killed."

Ned turned to her and shrugged before one of the men walked over, pulling Ned to his feet by grabbing the collar of his shirt, as he spoke rather harshly.

"Wanna tell me what the paper is, kid? Don't lie either, or your friend can tell us what she threw at your head."

Ned swallowed, handing the man the badly drawn Spiderman picture, and when he turned to shoot a confused look at a second man, who was holding one of the two guns, guarding the door, Ned stuffed the second paper into his mouth and swallowed it, nearly choking on it in the process.

The man raised a eyebrow at Michelle and Ned before letting go of the teenage boy's shirt and letting him sit back down on the bleachers.

'God, someone better hurry.' Ned realized with the fact the police weren't doing much and Michelle was about to punch someone.

...

Meanwhile, Peter managed to sling through a open window. He was still running on adrenaline, but his headache was also still pounding in his skull, and he was still nauseous, but able to move, thank god.

He ran towards the gym, the obvious place where all the students would be since it was the biggest room, before stopping and seeing two of the attackers, that, surprisingly, didn't see him.

Hiding behind a harsh wall, Peter managed to take a deep breath as the nausea came back full force. It didn't give him much help though, as he had to swallow it down harshly, before turning and shooting his webs to stick the two attackers against the wall. Luckily, luck was on his side—for once!—as said attacks struggled weakly before settling down. As they did so, Peter sighed in relief before attaching himself to the ceiling. Thank God.

He was deteriorating by the minute, but the safety of civilians... and, ugh, Flash came first.

After webbing two more men to the wall, the superhero had then opened the doors with a "bang!" and quickly got into an action stance, just before he started fighting three of them men in the room. He didn't get exactly far into the fight though, because the more punches his body took, well, the more his breakfast wanted to come back up.

Dodging several gun shots, the teen flipped and whipped his way out of every hit. It only took a matter of time though before he suddenly found himself falling behind in the fight, as he was suddenly nailed in the back with the butt of the gun, which only set the teen more and more over the edge, until he finally landed on his stomach, groaning in pain and agony.

Rolling on to his side, the teenager groaned as he began to lift the mask enough to uncover his mouth and, not even a second later, had he started to vomit violently, while white flashes took over his vision and a temporary loss of hearing took over his ears.

Ned, put a hand over his mouth, wanting to do nothing more then to go over to his friend and help him. But, knowing that could expose his friend's identity, the best friend kept quiet on the outside.

But that didn't mean he was quiet on the inside because, inside, he was SCREAMING for somebody to help him.

Michelle, however, was not gonna stand for this, no way in hell. She stood up from her spot at the top of the bleachers and started coming down them, yelling.

"What are you idiots doing?! Leave him the hell alone!"

In response, one of the attackers reached over, grabbing her and holding her hands behind her back, to which she struggled against the man's grip, doing everything she could to get to the obviously suffering superhero while the third man kept his gun on the students.

Peter, after regaining his hearing and stopped vomiting everything that had been in his stomach since the last time he had the stomach flu, pulled his mask back over his mouth, and started to stand up shakingly, only to be pressed to the ground again by a large boot that was on his back, leading him to clench his teeth in order to muffle a cry of pain, his eyes watering.

"Stop it!" Michelle screamed, doing everything in her power to pull out of the man's grip. But, unfortunately, the very strong man continued to hold her still before the other one who had his shoe on Peter's back, took it off before starting to kick the kid in the ribs repeatedly. Suddenly, Michelle couldn't take it anymore, and screamed, "Stop hurting him, you imbecile adolescents!"

The first man finished kicking Peter a few minutes later, the sound of the man's loud shoe colliding with the superhero's ribs, stomach, and legs several times, letting all the faculty hear his screams. The only difference from earlier was that they could now hear his sobs too, as the teen tried to restrain the tears from streaming down his face, to no avail.

The first man then approached Michelle, swiftly smacking her across the face before turning to the rest of the students and teachers.

"Let this be a lesson to you! Those who don't listen when given instructions, or try to be 'heroes' will end up—" The man was cut off by the right side of the gym being caved in by a large metal hand that flew and reconnected to the red and gold suit that everyone knew as Iron Man.

Tony immediately trapped the three men with a cannon that turned into a net made out of the same materials of Peter's webs and turned them over to the police, who had already started apprehending the seven other men.

"Successful!" He yelled after the men. He had then turned around and yelled, "P—Pider-Man!" before running over to Peter, avoiding the puddle of vomit, only to notice the kid had passed out, which wasn't a good sign, AT ALL.

Tony sighed, before looking at all the teens and teachers for a spilt second before redirecting his attention to Peter, and now the two teens he assumed were Ned and Michelle, or M.J. as Peter put it.

The billionaire scooped Spiderman into his arms, before looking at the male teenager who was clearly concerned and nervous, and the female, who was trying to hide her concern with her curiosity, but was easily scared for Peter's sake as well.

Tony sighed, knowing the two teens were very viable witnesses as to what happened. He also knew he was most likely gonna regret this, but, then again, he did bring the helicopter for a reason...

"Have you guys ever seen the inside of a Avengers HQ?"

...

"Thanks." Michelle smiled slightly, sitting in the med bay as she was handed a ice pack for her cheek by one of the doctors, placing it against her face, wincing slightly at the sudden cold and light pressure.

The doctor left shortly after, but was soon replaced by Ned, followed by Tony Stark, and, of course, the former was fanboying… HARD.

"This place is so cool, Mr. Stark!"

"Isn't it? It took almost two years to build fully, but it's my best work yet."

"Hey, nerds!" Michelle spoke, getting Ned's and Tony attention, both with raised eyebrows. "What happened to that Spider kid? I've been in here for two hours giving a police report and receiving medical treatment while you two have been fulfilling every need of Ned's fanboy heart."

"He got pretty beat up, on top of being sick, but he'll be fine in a few days. He heals fast," Tony spoke and THAT'S when it clicked in her head.

The fact that one of her classmates seemed one hundred percent after getting beat up by Flash, the fact that Spiderman and her classmate were sick on the same day was too much of a coincidence, and this did explain some of Spiderman's more... creative commentary, she had heard on the news during his battles.

"Hold up. Is Peter… Spider-Man?" Michelle raised a eyebrow, taking the ice pack off her cheek. "Like, for real?"

Tony and Ned shot looks at each other before Ned started chuckling.

"D-don't be ridiculous, M.J., Peter is NOT—"

"I'm sarcastic, Ned. Not stupid." Michelle cut him off before looking right into the billionaire's eyes. "Does his aunt know? Or anybody else?"

"Myself, Ned, his aunt, everyone here and now... ugh, you."

"Wow, thanks for that," Michelle said sarcastically. "Glad we're buddies, Mr. Billionaire." Rolling her eyes, she had then stood up from the chair she had previously been sitting on, before asking.

"Where is he?"

"Why do you ask so many questions? Every other sentence I've heard from you is a question."

"Cause I'm curious and I need to give Peter a piece of my mind. Now where is he?" Michelle questioned, raising her eyebrow, and Tony knew she was NOT messing around.

"Come with me. Both of you."

The two teens nodded as they simply followed the older genius to a different part of the building, but it seemed to be a second med bay, most likely where the Avengers got treatment. 'Hopefully,' Michelle thought. 'Peter's in there.'

...

Peter groaned when he returned to consciousness, wanting to go back into the peaceful darkness he was just in, cause peaceful darkness doesn't have broken ribs, the constant feeling of needing to puke, and everyone you love needing to lecture you on what you did wrong.

He opened his eyes, everything being blurry at first, but he made out who was in the room pretty easily. Ned, Mr. Stark and... Michelle.

Oh, man…. Michelle...

Panicking at the fact another person knew he was, he immediately tried to sit up, but with the dizziness and the nausea, he instead just started gagging. Luckily, someone had grabbed a trashcan, which he was thankful for, before he proceeded to vomit for a solid minute.

When he finished, he laid back down, closing his eyes and just wanting to go back to sleep until he was better.

"—you with us, man?" Ned asked quietly, to which Peter responded by nodding slowly, opening his now clear eyes.

"Hey guys." He rasped quietly. "What are you two doing here?"

"I brought them." Tony piped in before asking. "What were you thinking? Your aunt is worried sick, and probably wants to slap me in the face even though I told you to stay home."

"If it wasn't for me, Ned, M.J and who knows how many others could've been killed." Peter groaned quietly, wincing as Tony raised his voice.

"You could've been killed! You're lucky I came when I did!"

Peter nodded, laying back down on his back, looking at the ceiling, hearing Tony leave the room in a huff before hearing Michelle speak.

"He's right, you know. I thought you were gonna die in that gym."

"I know." Peter swallowed harshly. "I would've loved to sleep all day, and I almost did. Then the talk show I had on as background noise flipped to the news and I..." He trailed off, suddenly feeling completely nervous around Michelle, or, admitting why he came, other then he had been going to school there for the past year.

"You what?"

"I had to save Ned... I had to save you. Yeah, everyone else as well, but especially you two."

Michelle went quiet, not knowing how to respond to that. She had never been told anything like that by anyone other then her Dad, maybe once, which led Peter to chuckle nervously.

"You wanna slap me, don't you?"

"No, at least not until you're recovered. I actually wanted to thank you, for trying your best to save us."

"You feeling OK?" Peter asked, sitting up slowly to raise a eyebrow at her, cringing at the unwanted pain in his ribs. "I'm the sick one and you're getting all mushy and sentimental."

"You're right. I forgot the part where you failed and Tony Stark had to save us." Michelle grinned as the teen's slight pout.

"If I wasn't sick-"

"You'd most likely STILL end up with breaking your ribs." She cut him off, and he frowned at her, before speaking.

"Thanks, for yelling at them and doing your best to get that dude off of me."

"You're welcome." She smiled, patting his ankle before heading out of the room, but not before saying. "And I was helping Spiderman, not Peter Parker."

Peter rolled his eyes as she left, before laying back down, almost falling asleep instantly.

...

The next time the teen woke, he was feeling much better, but still very groggy and achy as he opened his eyes, only to see Tony kneeling down next to him.

"Hey, Underoos. Feeling any better?"

Peter nodded slowly, as he still had a migraine, but not as bad as it was that morning, looking around the room, only to see no trace of Ned or Michelle anywhere.

"They went home." Tony spoke, knowing exactly who he was looking for. "Ned's parents were getting worried and Michelle needed to check in with her dad."

"M.J. She prefers M.J."

Tony nodded, before placing his hand on the teen's leg, sighing.

"Your aunt knows where you are, and I told her you'd be home once your ribs heal properly, but she still wants to slap me."

Peter nodded a second time, reminding himself not to do that again as it made his headache worse every time he did and kinda made him wanna throw up, before he spoke.

"Are you still mad at me?" He asked, lying back on the bed.

"Yeah, I'm really mad. But I'm also proud... don't tell your aunt I said that though, she'd have my head."

"You're proud of me?" Peter asked curiously, slightly confused by the man's reaction when he had yelled at him the last time he was awake.

"You could've been like any other teenager, or person for that matter, and taken a sick day, and no one would've blamed you. But instead you went to save your friends, teachers, and that Flash kid, even if it took a wrong turn at the end."

"Thanks, Mr. Stark." Peter smiled as he started to fall asleep for the third time, to which Tony responded by smiling at the kid.

"Get some rest, but remember. Next time, take a freaking sick day."

Peter chuckled, nodding, before cursing internally himself for doing that, falling asleep just after Tony left the room.


End file.
